Lily Hay Newman

There have been vague rumblings about ISPs stepping up to match Google Fiber's gigabit internet offering, especially since Google announced that the next Fiber city would be Austin. Now 600 residents of Vermont are actually getting those speeds at half the Fiber price. What gives?

The Vermont Telephone Company (VTel), which serves about 17,500 homes, has installed a fiber network and is offering gigabit Internet speeds for $35 a month, compared to Fiber's $70. According to The Wall Street Journal, the company's chief executive is personally interested in upgrading VTel's phone network because it was originally installed in 1890. Infrastructure!

The company paid to install the 1,200 miles of fiber using $94 million of federal stimulus money it won for the project. Gigabit internet will be available to all VTel customers within the next few months, though it's unclear whether the $35/month pricing is here to stay or just part of the pilot. [WSJ via Engadget]